A - Pours an extremely dark mahogany and ruby reddish brown. Forms a nice two fingers of thick, creamy, pillowy medium-tan head. Spotty lacing. S - Orange juice, grapefruit, hops, peach and mango nectar, malty backbone and light touches of caramel and vanilla from the rye whiskey barrel aging. Extremely interesting, complex and changing aroma. T - Awesome. Sweet peach nectar upfront immediately followed by brown sugar, caramel, vanilla and whisky. Ends on both a hoppy and malty bitterness to balance the initial upfront sweetness. Also to note is the mouthfeel. This beer has a creamy, almost oily mouthfeel, it literally goes down smooth. Never had one quite like this before. O - One of the best barleywines I've ever had. This is an absolute must try for fans of the style and I highly recommend it to any and all. It's an experience. V - Available in 22oz. bomber bottles, high value.

Points for the appearance definitely. Creamy, chewy oatmeal-colored head a few fingers thick and more than reluctant to recede. A wall of lace shoots up all sides of the glass. Mid- to dark-brown body with plentiful carbonation. The body is mostly opaque but some lighter hues show at the outskirts. 4.75

Sweet jaysus. No for real, sweet, sweet liquid this is. Caramel in a glass is my first thought. Vanilla and oak round out the flavors although otherwise there's only vague whisky here...although I do detect some spice with a few more whiffs. 4.25

Okay. There's the whiskey, much more present on the palate. But it's neither overpowering nor overbearing. I am loving the finish on this, essentially a sweet cinnamon roll. Damn tasty. Vanilla, caramel and oak and spicy rye make appearances as well. 4.25

Medium-bodied liquid with a a bit of a bigger spirit feel at times, not quite hot, nor solvent, but thinner. There's a good combination of smoothness and spice that drinks fairly easily. It's filling, so you won't just gulp it down, but it's devilishly creamy. 4

It's pretty much dessert in a glass. No joke, you'll think you've bitten into a cinnamon roll on a few occasions. If you like a nuanced malt beast, this should please you. 4.25

Reviewed as a barrel aged American Barleywine per the label. Expectations are low given the brewery. Served cold into a snifter and allowed to come to room temperature over the course of consumption. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: Half finger wide. Pale khaki colour. Average creaminess and thickness. Underwhelming complexion. Uneven, shallow consistency. Lacks fullness and strength. Retention is horrid - less than 45 seconds. Excusable at this high an ABV, I guess. Leaves specks of lacing as it recedes.

Appears adequately carbonated. Overall, it's not much to look at. Pretty mediocre looking for a barleywine.

AROMA: Caramel malts, faint bread crust, raisin, toffee, toasted malts, mustiness, light marshmallow, and old wood on the finish (perhaps from the rye whiskey barrel?). There're no overt whiskey tones, and I don't find rye's signature spiciness. On the sweeter side. Flirts with cardboardy off-character; this would likely age poorly judging by the aroma.

There's no overt hop profile. It does have some alcohol warmth, but it's pleasant; there's no egregious boozy heat. I find no off-notes aside from that borderline cardboard.

Overall, it's light in intensity for a barleywine aroma - let alone a barrel aged barleywine - and I find myself wondering where the rye whiskey character is. As it warms, a bit of fruit does poke in, but it's wanting. Can't say I'm impressed so far.

TASTE: There's a dab of dry plum and a bit of caramelized/candied fig in the third act - which arrives quite quickly as the duration of flavour here is incredibly brief. Caramel malts comprise the bulk of the boring uneventful body, which has a kiss of marshmallow but little else going for it. True to the aroma, this is a barrel aged beer in search of barrel aged notes - I find nothing at all besides an old musty wood note that doesn't do it any favors. This beer lacks cohesion, and the base isn't complemented at all by the barrel notes - largely because the purported barrel notes are absent. Just how long was this aged in barrels, anyway? A week? The barrel imparted next to nothing, making aging this beer a colossal waste of time and effort which probably got passed onto us via a price increase.

What few hop notes I can pick out evoke more of an English barleywine. This brew suffers from a shallow depth of flavour, but does have an average flavour intensity. I struggle with its lack of complexity, intricacy, nuance, and subtlety, all of which are paramount in a barleywine...what were they after with this?

The only enjoyable aspect of the beer - the fruit - does come a bit more to the forefront as this comes to temperature, but it's far from enough to save the flavour profile as a whole. I'm so underwhelmed by this. As bland and boring a barleywine as I've had in the past year.

TEXTURE: Musty and unnecessarily coarse and dry, which tanks drinkability and keeps it unrefreshing. Feels a bit rough and scratchy on the palate, dragging somewhat. This mustiness coupled with the borderline cardboard/oxidation notes evokes a staleness that really turns me off to the beer. If it wasn't a Deep Ellum beer I'd wonder if I got a badly stored bottle.

This texture is just plain bad for a barleywine, and doesn't fit the taste except by virtue of its low quality. Poor execution across the board.

Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, or harsh.

OVERALL: More mediocrity from Deep Ellum, only this is less excusable than their other pedestrian brews because of its unreasonably high price point for the (absence of) quality. I don't like it much, and while I'll finish the bottle, I'd caution friends from trying it. Whoever is running their barrel aging program needs to be replaced if this is what they're going to greenlight for market release. The kind of bland forgettable stab at a style that typifies the bulk of the Texas beer scene.

Pour is hazed dark copper with a lot of tan head and some foamy bubbles on top. Nose has a fair bit of caramel malt, faintly toasted grains, some sticky toffee, and a strong herbal hop presence. Very chewy body, soft palate and almost flat. Flavors are huge malt, chocolate and caramel malts with a touch of toasted grain. Hops are still quite strong, herbal and moderately bitter in the finish. A fair bit acidic and the lack of carb being down the back end.

t/m/o - what can I say? This beer is delicious. Caramel dominant toffee flavor. I know they say American barleywine but this is not a hop bomb, actually quite like a English barley. Worth checking out and even hunting for. This is a great barleywine. Apparently a portion of this is aged in rye whiskey...perhaps that is what gives it that magical creamy caramel. Not boozy at all, kinda surprised to see that it is a barrel aged since it is not a dominant flavor like in most BA barleys. No vintage listed on the bottle. Really nice beer, very much enjoyed this one. Smooth, silky, caramel happiness.